Making my Home Brew (Part 1)...

So I started to brew my beer today, I took a few snaps for prosperity purposes...

This is the kit I got.

I boiled up some water and added the Hops and Malt Extract

Filled it up with tap water and added a Chlorine neutralizer tablet

Waited 10 Mins and added the Yeast

Then I gave it all a thorough stir

Put the lid on

Filled the water level in the Air Lock/Gauge

Finally slotted the Air Lock into the top of the fermenter barrel

and put it somewhere out of the sun

Now I just have to stir it once a day for a few days then leave it a week,

then I have to Barrel it and leave it to condition for a couple of weeks.

Beer...

Im making beer, i got my home brew kit all together now and I'm gonna start my brew tomorrow, I'm gonna make a hoppy summer bitter that, if my timing is just right, should be ready to drink for Jimmies B-Day.

...also its MADSTOCK on Friday, what a win!

LONG Overdue...

So June was a ridiculous month for me, barely a moment to myself.

it started with a week or so of fucking awesome gigs, firstly i saw The Specials at the academy, and it was immense, getting the chance to see a band iv been listening to my whole life was a treat, the atmosphere was untold and they were all so tight (despite the absence of Dammers). Plus Pama International were supporting so extra bonus points all round!!!

Then a couple of days later Dub Trio played the underworld and that was pretty good too, weird to see the underworld not at capacity though.

As if that wasn't good enough The Slackers played and as per usual blew the place apart!.. also excellent support from good friends of mine The Skints, go see them if you see their name on a bill!

On top of a month of blinding shows I have been doing a whole load of studying for work stuff, i did my WSET Level 2 exam, and also took my Licensing exam so I will soon be able to authorize all number of legal mumbo jumbo!

It was also Jimmies degree show so a few of us got on the bus and trundled up to Nottingham to check it out, it was part of the 13th annual PhotoRadar festival, it was an odd way to have a degree show but i quite liked it. all the students were holding exhibitions at various galleries across the city and the flyer had a map on the back, it was kinda like a treasure hunt.

I liked Nottingham as a town, but it was probably the most studenty place iv ever been to, i did have a pretty fun time up there though!

So that just about sums up my stupid June and hopefully ill be keeping myself a bit more up to scratch with keeping this blog up and running!

Super Slackness...

Yeah so iv been ridiculously busy for the last 4 or 5 weeks so Ihavent been blogging, but fear not theres a biggun on the way folks

- sorry

pieces of genius...

iv been a bit slack blogging as of late, mainly because of work, but if im being honest its got as much to do with my laziness as anything else really.

but anyway, theres a few things that are leaving my with a smile on my face i cant shake...

firstly, i managed to get a couple of tickets to see THE SPECIALS at brixton in may, and a couple of days later DUB TRIO are playing the underworld.

also iv been rekindling my love of GUITAR HERO as of late, plus its only 54 days till GHOSTBUSTERS lands on my doorstep.

the latest series of heroes is getting better and better.

and most importantly, ITS FUCKING SUNNY!

p.s. ROLLERBALL is just starting...awesomeness! gotta go x

Easter Weekend Sci-Fi...

So there was a couple of shows I was looking forward to over this weekend, firstly the (all be it short lived) return of Red Dwarf in 'Back To Earth' which wasn't entirely crap, the second being the easter special of Dr Who in 'The Planet Of The Dead' which was ok but a bit re-hashed for my liking.

These are both shows I have loved since I was a kid and really wasn't sure if either needed to be revived. In the case of Dr Who, it was great when it came back, even more so when Billie Piper left. 

This new Red Dwarf on the other hand was just a bit shabby, it had a couple of great Dwarf moments but too few and far between, also not sure about the thin Blade Runner "homage" near the end.

All in all it was a bit of a poor show, bland scripts and reworked old ideas... oh well at least there's another series of Dr Who coming soon!

also, hoorah! 4oD now works on Macs...

Linkles

Technological update...

Red Alert 3 is genius, also everyone should go and buy the Ultimate Sega MegaDrive Collection for some serious nostalgia rinsed old-skool STREETS OF RAGE  II antics (amongst others of course)

love it x

The assembled masses of Gnomedom Vs a 5 year olds Birthday party...

It was my flatmates little sisters 5th birthday party yesterday, a few of us were roped in by his mum to help out. it was a surprising amount of fun actually. Jimmie mistakenly started a balloon fight with a child who'd eaten nothing but cake all day, bad move methinks! the little boy had back up and we gave Jim nothing of the sort, he was soon lost to a sea of hyperactive 5 year olds, he's still missing presumed dead.

Due to my unparalleled qualifications, (being a B.A and the fact i was there at the time) I was elected to paint faces, I'll have to get onto Penni and see if she took any pics.

It was a daunting task, but I was swung when I found out I would be getting booze bought to me at my beckon call. The kids were so cute, they formed an orderly queue in front of my chair, Maya (the birthday girl) was first, she wanted to be a Dalmatian, that was easy, its all white faces and spots, the next kid wanted to be a Lion, the next Spiderman, then a whole string of more Dalmatians and Tigers.

I thought I only just got away with some of these shoddy animal representations, but all the parents were so impressed, one even asked me if i was a professional!  Is there even such a thing as a professional kiddie face painter, and if so what are the hourly rates as a change of career may be in order!?!

P.S. I f anyone sees a Jimmie wandering alone looking slightly lost and shellshocked, please return him to this address as he is sorely missed, thank you.

Red Dwarf...

So theyre making a/some new episode/s of Red Dwarf airing on Dave this easter, i dont know weather this is the best news ever, or utterly dire in its consequences.

any thoughts on weather to watch it or not would be greatly appreciated.

check out the website for details/episode guide etc...

Linky 

nice one

Technological Exploits...

Sooo, iv had a rare couple of days off work and have been pottering about the flat (also playing 'Rise of the Argonauts', its pretty good but i suspect its also pretty short)

but earlier today my mate sent me the link to the new 'Where The Wild Things Are' trailer, ive been looking forward to this film ever since i heard it was going to be made, and even more so when i found out Spike Jonze was making it. so anyway heres the new trailer, its so good i nearly weed myself!

http://apple.com/trailers/wb/wherethewildthingsare/

...also today i pre-ordered my copy of the Ghostbusters game, it has been a good day all in all

Spotify...

this is a great little program you can download for free, its a kind of itunes-esque setup, but because you cant buy stuff off of it you can listen to full songs and albums, anything in its database. theres some pretty obscure stuff on there too.

my particular favourite part of the program i thing is the best is the internet radio mode, it lets you give it a few specifications, genres, era etc and then shuffles the tunes from its library within your criteria.

its a great little ap that doesnt take up too much space on the hard-drive , it works fine on a mac, and its bloody free so go check it out!

http//spotify.com/

My flatmate vs WoW...

i cant pretend to understand how these mmo games work, or why people seem to be so inclined to spend all their free time playing them. there does seem to be bloody millions of them so maybe im in the wrong on this subject, my flatmate however is one of those thoroughly in the other camp!

as i have already mentioned i know nothing of the workings of WoW, or even how to play it, but it seems to me its just him sitting on a chair clicking on little tiles at the bottom of the screen and lots of health bars trying to keep other players (who are seemingly doing something) from dying. 

also he assures me hes quite good at it but i am yet to see proof, he has tried to tell me hes level something or other, but all i see is him repeatedly running around as a ghost attempting to find is body!

this does not strike me as being a fun game.

Snippets 2 THE REVENGE!...

Heres another little snippet, you're gonna have to click the images

 to read the text on them though

Snippets...

Heres a few little bits and pieces i screen grabbed from the old blog

this is the general gist of things

An assortment of pictures from my phone...

 this is one of my all time favorite signs

someone sent this to me, apparently its from the guardian

me and Jason had a can of this the other day, its one of the most terrifying colours iv ever seen in a food product

this was by my old flat in dalston, its great

this was put up by staff at the post office near my old work in kentish town

im not quite sure how this happened

Anyhow i was clearing out my phone and a few pics made me chuckle so i thought id share.

Getting to know oneanother...

so anyway thanks for taking the time out to look over what im writing, i dont claim to have anything profound to say but id like to think i can be interesting at times.

so heres a few things about me: 

• i spend a great deal of my time hunting out and collecting deleted vinyl
• i read whenever i have a spare moment, books are a passion 
• i like very little better than sitting with a nice glass of scotch and some good company watching films
• sandwiches play a very large part in my life
• i still have a fairly juvenile sense of humor
  

these things will be pretty much the entirety of this blog, ill do my best to make it a decent read

Hello and Welcome...

so i had my old blog running through my old myspace account, as i havent been into myspace for a while i decided to restart it here.

once i figure it all out ill import some of the more interesting stuff from the old one into this one and hopefully it wont all be rubbish.

- Luke